


Birds of a feather

by BlueFlameBird



Category: Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Venom (Comics), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Canon-Typical Behavior, Canon-Typical Violence, Friendship, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Tags May Change, a mix of comic and movie, but i love them so, failures stick together, theyre both messes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-17 22:42:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21700906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueFlameBird/pseuds/BlueFlameBird
Summary: Clint cant help it if Eddie falls for him, or rather, on him.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 44





	Birds of a feather

**Author's Note:**

> I dont know if this should be a one shot or a series, but here is something I guess. Clint meets Venom, and is very underwhelmed

In Clint’s defense, he was here first.

Well... _ here _ was a dumpster, but it was the thought that counts.

He had barely managed to escape death before launching himself out of a window and, by some stroke of luck - he wasn’t sure if bad or good yet - managed to land in a dumpster. 

The wind had been knocked out of him, and honestly he was Done. So he wanted to lay there for a while to get his bearings back in peace. Or spend the night. He didn’t care which. 

Wouldn’t be the first time he spent the night in a dumpster anyway. 

But of course, the universe seemed to hate him. Because not 20 minutes into trying to figure out if anything was broken, something fell on him. 

And promptly knocked the wind out of him. Again.

It was too large to be human, if the fact it was covered in black goo didn’t clue Clint in first. 

He was too busy gasping for breath to be surprised when it seemed to fold into itself, revealing a frazzled looking human, who let out a pitiful groan. 

_ Honestly? _ He thought,  _ same. _

“I swear...a little warning before you jump out of a 4 story window would be nice.” 

_ Wait what? _

Mystery man didn’t wait for a response, because he just kept talking. “You know I don’t do well with heights.” 

Clint managed just enough energy to rattle his tired and confused brain. There was one of two options to this: he was a mutant who talked to himself like Deadpool and could shape shift. Or, he was talking to whatever it was that helped him transform. 

Mystery man continued. “Yeah, I’ll get up in a sec, just let me keep my heart from jumping out of my body.” 

Alright, Clint heard enough. Besides, this dude’s elbow was in his ribs. 

“If you don’t mind moving your arm first…”

The stranger nearly leaped out of his own skin and out of the dumpster, scrambling up. Clint gave a groan of his own as he rubbed his sore ribs. 

“Thanks, you didn’t exactly land gently on me, buddy.”

Said man looked a bit flustered under the sweaty hair and clearly frazzled demeanor. “How long were you there? We didn’t even sense you.” 

We?

They both carefully took each other in. The stranger’s eyes lingered on his hearing aids and the bow that was still clutched in his hands. Clint knew he looked as much of a mess as he felt, and as much as his companion looked, too. Looks like they had that in common. 

Clint couldn’t help but feel like he’s seen his face before. 

“I dunno, narrowly escaped death, landed here. Probably going to spend the night here with the way my ribs hurt. Oh, not just ‘cause of you falling on me, they hurt before then too. You just added to the pain.” Clint quickly added the last part at the flash of guilt on the stranger’s face. 

“You’re one of those Avengers, right? From New York?” 

Clint winced a bit, he knew he was pretty recognizable but still. “Yeah? But I’ve been doing a lot of solo work since the whole Accords thing.”

A quirk of his lips, “I see that’s been working out for you.”

“Yep. Isn’t it everyone’s dream to sleep in a dumpster instead of in a 5 star hotel?”

“What about the Tower you guys have?” Normal questions any semi famous hero asked, don’t be paranoid, Clint.

“It blows up every other day, no thanks.” Clint groaned as he brought himself into a half assed sitting motion. “Besides,” he grumbled bitterly, “it’s easier to be a failure when you’re alone.”

A look of understanding crossed his companion’s eyes, and Clint couldn’t help the annoyance at himself for not even asking his name. He had plenty of enemies anyway, if this went sour like everything else this night did.

“Anyway, I’m Clint Barton, Hawkeye.”

“Eddie Brock.” 

They shook hands as the pieces fit together. 

“You were a reporter right? I’m not really up to date on most of the current events but I thought you were in New York, too.”

Eddie, thank God Clint had a name for this guy finally - he was getting sick of thinking of him as such - chuckled bitterly. “Was. Got run out of New York for running my mouth a little too much. You would’ve thought I’d learn but nope. Got in some trouble here, too. Now we mostly do odd jobs to keep us going by.” 

It looked like he was about to say something else but Eddie ended the sentence there. 

And there was that we again.

“We? So you’re not a mutant. So that black thing that was around you is a separate part of you?”

Eddie motioned to himself casually. “Oh yeah, I have a parasite- ow!” 

A black tendril seemed to ooze out of Eddie and whacked him for the comment. Clint couldn’t help but snicker. 

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry. He’s a symbiote. Alien. We bonded so it became less ‘me’ and more ‘we.’ We can’t live without each other and kinda prefer it that way. He makes me really hungry though.” 

Clint couldn’t help the slight fascination at that. Seeing how calm he was, Eddie raised an eyebrow. 

“You know, people usually would run screaming, or try to attack us. You’re pretty calm right now.”

Clint gave Eddie a deadpan look. “I have fought through alien invasions with nothing but a bow and arrow. I’ve met gods and mutants alike. Nothing surprises me anymore.”

Eddie chuckled before canting his head slightly, the same way he did when he cut himself off before, before muttering to himself, “No, we do not eat Avengers. He’s a good guy.”

Clint decided to ignore that. This convo was going good, dammit. His bruised and hopefully not broken ribs agreed with that choice. Instead he asked, “It’s sentient? Does he have a name?”

“Venom,” Eddie answered easily, a small smile on his face, before it was replaced with a guarded expression. “You aren’t going to try and take us in or anything, are you?”

“That depends, you a villain?”

Eddie tilted his head, “We like to think of ourselves as a very violent force for the greater good. And if a few heads get bitten off the way, so be it.”

“Well, there you have it,” Clint said with a sweep of his hand. “Lord knows I’ve done some shady shit in my life too.”

At Eddie’s doubting look, Clint motioned lazily to himself. “Look man, even if I disagreed, I just finished jumping off the roof of a 6 story building. My rope snapped and dropped me in here, and that's after I got my ass kicked. You’re good, for now at least. As long as you don’t try to eat my head.”

Eddie winced sympathetically, “No, no you’re good. Your life sounds just as shitty as mine, to be honest.” 

“Rough childhood?” Clint asked with a humorless chuckle.

“Rough life.” Eddie agreed easily.

“My parents died when I was six.”

“Most of my family died around that time too.”

“My mentor tried to kill me.”

“My father was an abusive asshole.”

Clint tried another angle, “Tried to do good and ended up almost ruining my life following a beautiful redhead in her quest for stealing.”

Eddie cracked a smile at that, “Was defamed for reporting the wrong killer on my newspaper and was run out here.”

“I was mind controlled and almost killed all my friends.”

“I caught wind of illegal human experimentation and lost my fiance and job for trying to bring it to the light. Then I got bonded to this asshole inside me.”

Clint couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of him. “Alright, maybe both our lives are shitty.” 

“Yeah,” Eddie said softly, a small smile on his face. “But it isn’t so bad anymore. Venom makes good company. And I’m friends with what used to be the love of my life. So there’s that.”

Clint nodded, “Yeah, I get that. Nat is one of my closest friends and can probably kick my ass. My protege too. Well...she’s less of my protege and more of my partner in crime-fighting. She’s a badass. And I get to be apart of the freaking Avengers. So maybe it isn’t so bad.”

They sat in companionable silence for a moment before Eddie jolted. Clint lifted an eyebrow in response. 

“Yeah, I need to get something to eat. Otherwise my liver might be what this asshole decides to eat.” 

Clint didn’t want to admit that he was a bit disappointed his dumpster friend was leaving so soon. 

God, how pathetic was he to get attached to someone who happened to fall in the same dumpster as him?

“Well, I could go for something myself, what are you in the mood for?” He offered quickly, slowly slinging his bow to his back. Movement hurt. 

Eddie hesitated, that guarded expression coming back. “You’re not going to try to drop our guard and ambush us right? Because you seem like a real cool dude and we’d hate to eat your head. Besides, we aren’t exactly well off.” 

Straight to the point, Clint could work with this. “Like I said, too many broken ribs to really want to pick a fight. Besides, I’m kind of enjoying the company of my dumpster buddy.” 

Clint stood, his back protesting and, oh yeah, his ribs were definitely going to hate him for the next few days. He offered a hand to Eddie, who took it gratefully. 

“And don’t worry about the bill, I’m sure the guys I ran from won’t mind paying, it's the least they could do for the ribs.” Clint pulled out a thick wad of cash, tossing it in the air and catching it with more grace than someone so banged up should have. There was a mischievous glint in Eddie’s eyes and Clint already knew this was the start to a wonderful friendship. 

They carefully climbed out of the dumpster, dragging their sore bodies out of the alleyway as Clint asked, “Hey, you know any good places around here? Preferably greasy, with lots of fries. I could go for a few large fries.” 


End file.
